Thursday, March 6, 2014

QPW: Well Worth the Wait Review

If you don't already own Quintessential Pro Wrestling's (QPW) Well Worth the Wait, go buy it now. Seldom is there a new wrestling promotion which puts out a great, must own product, but QPW is the exception to this rule. Their first two shows are available on YouTube, but this show was the first you can own and support the company from anywhere in the world.

Even though this show took place the day after PWG's DDT4 2014, this show made it from taping to doorstep in under 14 days, while I impatiently wait for tomorrow's DDT4 ship date and early next week's arrival date. The DVD arrived about two weeks ago, I was finally able to get some time to sit and devote to watching the DVD, rather than leaving it on the background while I do something else like I do with most other wrestling DVDs.

To be honest, there is a lot to be excited for on this card. The first Kevin Steen/Chris Hero match since Hero's return from the WWE and the only time I've seen a wrestler change gear middle of the match, Joey Ryan wrestling Cheerleader Melissa, Willie Mack!, Brian Cage!!!, Candice LaRae and Christina Von Eerie in an intergender tag match against PPRay, a mat classic between Kyle O'Reilly and Brian Kendrick and Drake Younger against Adam Thornstowe, who I've heard a lot about and was excited to see.

Outside of PWG, there is almost never a card where I am excited to watch all of the matches. Even Ring of Honor will have a few matches where I'm like, oh boy Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer, there's a match I don't need to see. But this is an amazing card which delivers.

Before discussing some of the matches in further detail, the rest of the disc is very good. Having Excalibur and Nigel McGuinness as the commentators was an excellent choice. Even though they started off trying to work this as a family show, once they found their groove and watched Joey Ryan wrestle Cheerleader Melissa, the commentary became a bit more risque, but you do realize that Excalibur relies are far more than just his great storytelling and knowledge of adult topics, as he excels at telling the story of a wrestling match. Nigel is a good compliment to Excalibur, more from the school of people who want you to believe in the physics of wrestling, which is a nice change of pace.

The camera work is good as well. I thought the hard cam was a little far away from the ring, but that is likely due to the nature of the building. However, the lighting is correct (go watch a ROH DVD from before 2010 to see how hard that is to get right) and the camerawork from the floor was good as well, capturing the action from a different angle. I actually expected this to be the hardest part to get right, but fortunately for us, they are far ahead of most promotions out of the gate.

As always, the Joey Ryan as the evolutionary Andy Kaufman was excellent, with just the right amount of sleaze to tell the story and Cheerleader Melissa, aside from some weak strikes, was excellent in carrying most of the offense in the match. Melissa's strikes were made worse by Candice LaRae and especially Christina Von Eerie's strikes in their match with PPRay, which in something of a surprise was one of the best matches of the night.

The real disappointment of the night was the Chris Hero/Kevin Steen match. The action and story telling was good, but I wanted it to go significantly longer, even though Kevin Steen went from regular Steen to Young Bucks Steen during the middle of the match, though I suspect I will see this match again in the next few months in some promotion. The same could also be said of the O'Reilly/Kendrick match, which I think could have went another three to five minutes as well, but as with Steen and Hero, the work in the ring was excellent.

The main event was very good. I think Thornstowe has a bright future in wrestling, but needs some additional polish. Though admittedly, I have a soft spot for anyone who can get away with wearing And Out Come The Wolves trunks. With a more unique finisher than the frog splash, something more high impact given his size, I think he can definitely be a regular in PWG and might even be the local guy who moves to the top of their cards.

As for Drake Younger, he was excellent as always. He mixes in the right amount of technical wrestling and brawling and introduced just enough weapons to make the match interesting. Drake also showed tremendous personality, including a spot which appeared on Kevin Steen's Weekend Escapades and going on commentary with Excalibur and Nigel during the match. Really, I can watch Drake wrestle just about anyone and really enjoy it, so the fact this was a good main event with a true big match feel was no surprise.

Anyway, go order the DVD. It is a great product and gives you a chance to support a growing, local company.